My questions were answered in Christian Science Sunday School
When I was a little girl, I attended Sunday School in a Christian church. As I grew older, I began to ask questions and really wanted to understand the deeper things of life. I especially wanted to understand spiritual concepts and the experiences described in the Bible.
At eleven years of age, in my quest for understanding I began asking my Sunday School teacher probing questions. The first time I asked a question, I was told, “We are not meant to know that.” The next Sunday I asked another, deeper question and got the same answer. This went on Sunday after Sunday. Finally, I told my parents that I no longer wished to attend Sunday School. They agreed, as they had already stopped attending the church themselves.
One day at school when I was in the seventh grade, I noticed a girl who was alone at recess. I went over and introduced myself, and gradually this girl and I became friends. I had often tried to bring up spiritual subjects with my other friends, but none of them seemed interested in talking about such things. However, when I brought up spiritual concepts with my new friend, we started discussing them. This continued each day. After a while, she invited me to the Christian Science Sunday School she attended. She said I could get answers to my questions there.
It was some distance for me to walk to the Sunday School, but I didn’t mind, and I started attending. I just loved it. All of my questions were answered, and the answers made sense. I began to understand more about God and man. (The word man, I learned, refers to the true identity of all of us as children of God.)
I started to study the weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly every morning. And my Sunday School teacher, seeing my sincere interest, gave me quotes from the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, to study every week. We would discuss these citations and the Bible Lesson the following Sunday. Looking back, I realize that I was beginning to feel God’s love.
One of the most important first lessons that I took to heart was to look for good in each person, however I felt about them, since everyone is truly God’s child. I started looking for good qualities in everyone I knew and in each new person I met. This spiritual perspective of others was new for me, and it changed the way I related to people and how I viewed the world.
When I started eighth grade, some things my new schoolteacher did bothered me. Students who were having a harder time with some subjects were belittled by her in front of the whole class. I did not like this. Instead of feeling upset, though, I decided to look for good qualities in this teacher. Each day in class, I found something good about her. For example, we were learning about the Constitution of the United States that year, and I recognized that she made the subject really interesting. Each day I found more and more good qualities to value in her. As I was doing so, the atmosphere in the class changed. The teacher stopped speaking negatively to students, and the class became quite enjoyable.
Another change was my relationship with my mother. Prior to my finding Christian Science, she and I did not always get along. She had quite a temper, and I knew just how to push her buttons. But as I was looking to see more of the child of God in everyone else, I also did so with my mother. Our relationship smoothed out, and we began getting along beautifully.
Healings like these are examples of the wonderful results of practicing Christian Science. I’ve found that doing so improves every part of my life. I started having physical healings as well.
I remember waking up one school day with a sore throat. Instead of jumping out of bed the way I normally did, I stayed there and told myself, “If you believe that this sore throat is real, then you believe that the devil is real.” This wasn’t because I believed that there is a devil but because I now understood that there is no devil, despite what I’d been taught earlier in my life. By this time, I had been attending the Christian Science Sunday School for about four years, and I knew that God is the only power—that there is no opposing power, so there could be no devil. The thought that had come to me was so amazing that I was healed instantly. The sore throat was gone. I bounded out of bed with a grateful heart.
I am so very grateful to God for leading me to Christian Science. Over the years I have had many, many healings through its study and practice. It is wonderful not to have fear, doubt, and other negative emotions governing my thought and instead to feel confident in God’s power and ever-presence, which answer our every need. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (p. 494). My joyful gratitude is unbounded. I feel so uplifted with the understanding of God’s precious love. Thank you, dear Father-Mother God.
